Getting Around Waterloo Region By Bicycle

It’s no accident – the dutch stood up and demanded bicycle infrastructure

A fantastic little documentary on how it’s no accident the people of the Netherlands have fantastic bicycle infrastructure. The dutch stood up and demanded it and their goverments agreed and then they both took action. (Thanks to ibiketo for sharing).

This video is especially relevant to us folks in Waterloo Region as we engage our municipal governments. It was great to see the turnout last week (Nov 17) at the public workshop for Waterloo Region’s Master Transportation Plan. It was heart warming to see that walkers and cyclists (among other altnative forms of transportation will be prioritized ahead of motorists.

I’ve been a little preoccupied the last few weeks (even months) and hope in the coming season to be more active here at Waterloo Bikes. A couple weeks ago we suffered a loss in our family, and I’ve also gone through the process of switching jobs.

3 thoughts on “It’s no accident – the dutch stood up and demanded bicycle infrastructure”

I Cycle Hamilton had that video along with another which are both quite interesting. I suppose one of the biggest differences between what the Dutch did and what we should be doing is attitude.
The Dutch also had far more people cycling — plus the oil crisis which made them invest heavily in cycling (as with Copenhagen).

Canadians are far less likely to give up their cars (I tend to reference to CBC poll that said Canadians will give up everything else BUT their car).
I constantly hear the “I’d cycle more IF it were safer”, but these people don’t do anything to push change, as well they are some of the first to whine when bike lanes are put in on roads.

For two years now I haven’t encountered a new bike lane on a road that has been redone. A potentially new bike lane is under heavy criticism from *a* business (Home Hardware). A few residents have complained as well (on radio).

Perhaps I listen to far too much talk radio (St. Catharines & Toronto) and read too many comments (CBC), but I have zero faith cycling will ever take off even remotely close to how I’d both like to see it and how I believe it should.

Even if gas prices skyrocket and tolls are put in place, the majority will still pay. The few that decide to park the car will be split among transit/taxi users, pedestrians and cyclists.
It’s sad when daily I hear people on the radio whine about gas prices (even though they’ve remained around 1.20 in StC for over a month), yet no one ever talks about the ridiculous increases in the cost of groceries.

Although I’ll still ‘pedal on’, I’m far less hopeful about the future of cycling in this country :\

I’m waiting to see that kind of outrage here, and the vigil following the death of the female cyclist in Toronto, while nowhere close to that yet, was heartening. I think we are inching towards a place where the public will demand the balance of power in transportation will be shifted in favour of moving people rather than cars.